Aftermarket Radiator for Honda

I need to get a new radiator for my 1993 Honda Civix EX..the mechanic
that I use who used to work for a Honda dealership is going to install a
Brand new aftermarket Radiator with coolant & thermostadt. The total is

$350.00 with everything including labor.....are aftermarket radiators
good to use? Honda want $300.00 just for the Radiator

Not to plug where to buy one, but I had a really good experience with
Radiator.com:
A week ago, I needed a Subaru radiator. Had a good quality replacement
in my hands the next day for not crazy money.
You may want to try them.
Remco

The replacement I received was better than the original, imo. This one
was actually metal - the original had plastic elements that were just
crimped.
Personally, I'd buy another one there after this experience.
Remco

believe it or not, the plastic/crimped thing is a better radiator.
pressure/temperature is relatively low, so it's well within the
mechanical capacities of the material. the most important benefits of
plastic are:
1. it doesn't use solder. on the metal tank types, that tends to creep
and leak.
2. it's inert regarding corrosion. the more metal, and worse, different
metal types, the worse the corrosion equation.

galvanic corrosion. the coolant is supposed to suppress this, but when
it ages and the mineral content starts to climb, that's when it starts
to be a factor. in addition, the more different types of metals, the
worse it is. this is the reason the modern hondas use aluminum-core
radiators rather than copper-core - keep galvanic potentials to a
minimum. and of course, once you're using aluminum core, plastic tanks
are by /far/ the easiest way to go...

Anytime two dissimilar metals are in contact with the presence of an
electrolyte you have created a battery which produces electricity
through a chemical reaction and results in corrosion as the point of
contact.
You can find a brief write up here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion#Galvanic_corrosion
John

While I cannot state an opposite opinion positively, I still have the
original radiators in my:
1955 Studebaker President State sedan
1956 Studebaker Power Hawk.
The '55 radiator has been recored to a four row to accommodate the hot
Texas weather but the '56 has only been rodded about every ten years.
The radiator in the '31 President coupe is also the origianl honeycomb unit.
If I had my druthers, I'll take metal over plastic (anything) any time.
JT

Most likely I will second what Tegger says, but just to get
it out there:
Aftermarket thermostats are not necessarily set at the
correct temperature settings, for one thing.
Aftermarket coolants have a reputation of destroying the
water pumps very quickly. IMO there is one exception to
this: Havoline Dexcool (the orange stuff).

Aftermarket thermostats are often poorly made and mays not fit or function
properly. Also they may be incorrectly rated. For the few dollars savings,
it's not worth risking cooking your expensive engine due to a faulty
thermostat.
Aftermarket coolants are not necessarily compatible with the Honda stuff
and may destroy the extended-life corrosion protection compounds. In fact,
this may happen no matter what's in there now. Unless you use the exact
same stuff as you removed, corrosion protection will go back to the
baseline 2 years. And some coolants will react badly together and may be
corrosive right off the bat. Not worth the chance, to me.

There are good aftermarket parts and there are not so good aftermarket
parts. If the radiator is from a major supplier like Denso, Valeo or
another quality supplier then it is no worries. There are also no-name
radiators brought in from China, India and such which personally I
wouldn't use. Aftermarket radiators for a Civic are generally $125 or
less. You can look at some parts prices at www.alleurasianautoparts.com.

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